Yarn traversing roll



Jan. 4, 1966 Original Filed Sept. 12, 1961 Fla. 1

w. H. OBRIEN 3,227,385

YARN TRAVERSING ROLL 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. William H OBrierz W/ ZQWATTORNEYQS- Jan. 4, 1966 w. H. O'BRIEN 3,227,385

YARN TRAVERSING ROLL Original Filed Sept. 12, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 mumQOTATIONI I 25 BA$E\. 24 NOSE Zia \ Zlb INVENTOR. W'illiam H OBrien BYMf mpg/LA ATTORNEYS Jan. 4, 1966 YARN TRAVERSING ROLL W. H. O'BRIEN 3Sheets-Sheet 5 mum ROTATION f 200; T mo.

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Anew EQUALS Q TURNS -naux LEAD Anew. EQuALs zkrunus INVENTOR. William H.OBrien BY W K QM ATTO S United States Patent Office 3,227,385 PatentedJan. 4, 1966 1 Claim. (Cl. 242-431 This application is a division of ourcopending application Serial No. 137,544 filed September 12, 1961.

This invention relates to an improved method of winding yarn as wellasto an improved form of traverse roll utilized for carrying out theinvention.

In the specification and in the accompanying drawings, the invention isshown and described in connection with the winding of a conical yarnpackage, in which capacity it finds its greatest utility, though it isto be understood that the invention may advantageously be adapted andemployed for the winding of generally cylindrical yarn packages as well.

In conventional methods of winding yarn, the yarn cop or package isdriven by peripheral contact with a grooved traverse roll which providesnot only the means for rotating the package, but in addition is providedwith reversely pitched interconnected grooves in its surface forreceiving and guiding the yarn in a manner to traverse it axially backand forth lengthwise of the package being wound to thus gradually buildup the package in overlying layers of generally helical coils.

It has been customary in such winding to traverse the yarn back andforth on the package in such manner that its speed of traverse inopposite axial directions in any given axial location on the packagebeing wound will be the same. the traverse roll or drum which governthis speed will normally have their oppositely pitched portions arrangedgenerally symmetrically to the axis of the roll. Normally in winding acylinder the pitch of each groove will be constant throughout its lengthto maintain a uniform diameter of the package, although in winding acone shaped package it is customaryto progressively increase the pitchof the grooves in a direction from the base to the nose of the cone inorder to maintain substantially equal distribution of the windingsthroughout the length of the cone. In such event the arrangement of theoppositely pitched and interconnected grooves will nevertheless normallybe symmetrically disposed about the axis of the traverse roll.

It is, of course, of considerable importance that the yarn be traversedback and forth on the package at the maximum possible speed. Such speedis limited by various factors including, among other things, theparticular shape and arrangement of the grooves in the traverse roll.The problems thus involved are generally disclosed in the priorU.S.Patents to Reece 1,749,355, granted March 4, 1930, and to Bood1,836,105, granted December 15, 1931.

The present invention makes use of the realization that in its traversalmovement the yarn leading onto the package extends and is so guided thatit is traversed by swinging it about a generally predetermined fanningpoint located axially abreast of approximately the mid-J point of theroll in an axial direction and, in the absence of the traversing action,would normally tend to wind onto the roll in the plane of this mid-pointor midsection of the roll in a direction extending from its fanningpoint perpendicularly to the axis of the roll.

Thus, as the yarn is traversed from this normal or generally neutralpath outwardly toward either end of Accordingly, the guide grooves onbodiment thereof.

the roll and thus is deflected further and further from its naturalpath, it tends increasingly to resist the deflecting or traversingaction of the roll, with increased tendency for it to leave the guidegrooves of the roll, particularly at the intersections of the oppositelypitched grooves or groove portions. This has been one of the factorslimiting the speed at which the yarn can be successfully traversed at agiven tension.

With this in mind the method of the present invention includes theconcept of relatively decreasing the traversal movement of the yarn fromthe mid-point of the roll outwardly toward either end thereof,preferably in a progressive manner whereby to compensate for theprogressively increasing resistance to the traverse movement as the yarnis deflected away from its normal path above mentioned. Conversely, theinvention includes the concept of traversing the yarn back inwardlytoward the mid-point of the roll from either end at a higher rate ofspeed as contrasted to its outward traversing movement, therebyeifectively making use of the existing tendency of the yarn to return toits normal path approximately at the mid-section of the roll.

Although the foregoing method of varying the rate of travel or traverseof the yarn at diiferent points or in different directions of itstraverse might appear to be undesirable as resulting in the deformationof the shape of the yarn package being wound, it has been foundpractical in accordance with the invention to overcome this seemingdefect. This is accomplished by so interrelating the relativediiferences in the rates of traverse in opposite directions at any givenaxial location along the roll that the deformity imparted to the shapeof the resulting package caused by variations in the traverse in onedirection will be compensated for by the deforming eifect of thevariations in traverse in the opposite direction whereby to form anaccurately shaped yarn package.

Moreover, by virtue of the variations in the rates of traverse of theyarn in opposite directions at given points along the package beingformed, it has been found possible in connection with the winding ofconical yarn packages in particular to gradually increase the taper ofthe package during its formation to a substantially greater extent thanhas heretofore been possible by conventional methods. This isparticularly beneficial where such packages are used as a supply on aknitting machine due to the fact that the increase in taper reducesplucks, and allows the yarn to be delivered under a more uniform tensionthan would be the case with yarn packages wound by conventional methods.

Although the method of the invention finds its most useful applicationwhen carried out by means of a suita-bly formed or grooved traverseroll, it obviously may be carried out through use of other yarntraversing means than a roll and, therefore, the method of the presentinvention is not limited to the use of a roll as distinguished from someother conventional means modified in the manner required to carry outthe process.

However, the invention consists also in the particular groove formationof a traverse roll in a manner to carry out the invention, and theaccompanying drawings and specification accordingly illustrate anddescribe the preferred form of such a roll together with a modified em-It is to be understood that various modifications of both the method andapparatus may readily be made by person skilled in the art and that itis the purpose of the present application and claims to include suchmodifications as well as the embodiments of the invention specificallyillustrat d in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 represents a plan view of a portion of a conventional windingmachine having a traverse roll in accordance with the invention appliedthereto in place of the conventionally grooved roll.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged plan view of the tranverse roll shown in FIGURE1.

FIGURE 3 is a rolled out or developed view of the traverse roll of thepreceding figures showing in detail the improved groove formation in thepreferred form for carrying out the method of the instant invention.

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing a modified arrangement ofthe groove formation in the traverse roll.

Referring now in detail to the accompanying drawings, there isillustrated in FIGURE 1 a generally conventional arrangement of thevarious parts of a yarn winding machine insofar as they are related tothe instant invention. Thus the numeral designates the usual supportingplate or bracket for the conventional arrangement of the various yarntensioning and servicing elements which will include normally a guide 11through which the yarn is led across the upper surface of the plate froma usual source of supply. From the guide 11 it will be seen that theyarn, which is designated Y, extends through and is acted upon by theusual tensioning discs 12, thence is led beneath the usual rotating waxapplicator 13 and through a conventional slub catcher or catchersgenerally designated 14 and under a guide 15 from which it is then ledover the surface of the traverse roll 16 and wound onto a usual form ofcop to form a conventional conical or tapered package designated P.

In the present instance the traverse roll 16 is fixed on a drive shaft17 rotatably supported through a bearing 18 on the winding machineframe, and the package P is rotatably supported in driven frictionalengagement with the roll 16 at the free end of a swingable arm 19. Theconstruction and arrangement of these several generally described partsand their manner of cooperation may be as described in the United StatesPatent to Goodhue et al., No. 2,764,362, granted September 25, 1956. Asis Well known, the roll 16 is formed in its cylindrical surface withrelatively intersecting and relatively oppositely pitched guide groovesand 21 respectively which are axially coextensive and are interconnectedat their opposite axial ends. It it the function of these interconnectedgrooves to receive and traverse the yarn Y axially back and forth fromthe base to the smaller diameter end or nose of the package P to buildup the package gradually by series of generally helical yarn windings.The arrangement is such that as the diameter of the package P isprogressively increased by the winding action, it is freely supported atthe end of the arm 19 so that its axis may be gradually displaced awayfrom that of the roll, though it will remain in peripheral drivenengagement with the roll surface.

The grooves 20 and 21 are illustrated as being generally V-shaped incross section whereby the sides of the grooves will tend to receive andto earn the yarn into the bottom or apex of the groove as designated bythe lines 22 and 23 respectively. Each time the yarn arrives at eitherend of the roll the communicating ends 24 or 25 of the interconnectedgrooves (FIGURE 3) cause it to reverse its direction of traverseautomatically. Since the bottom or apex 22, 23 of the interconnectedgrooves determines the actual path of traverse, it may be also looked toas establishing the actual pitch or shape of the respective grooves.

As seen in FIGURE 1 the yarn Y is in the normal or neutral positionwhich it would assume in the absence of any grooves in the cylindricalroll 16, in which position it will be seen to extend in a linecoincident with a radial plane located approximately midway between theends of the roll, the said plane being designated in FIG- URE 3 forreference purposes by the broken line MM.

Now considering particularly the groove formation in FIGURE 3, it willbe seen that as the roll or drum 16 is rotated in the directionindicated by the arrow in that figure, the point of contact of the yarnwithin the respective grooves 20 and 21 will move relatively to the rolland along the grooves in the manner indicated by the several smallarrows alongside the grooves in FIG- URE 3. Thus from theinterconnection 24 between the grooves at the base end of the roll, theyarn will move along the lead groove 20 to the nose end of the cylinderor roll until it reaches the interconnection 25 at said end at whichtime it will commence its return movement back toward the base throughgroove 21.

Now, particularly comparing the lead groove 20 with the return groove21, it will be noted by comparison of these grooves in FIGURE 3 that thelength of the portion 20a of groove 20 extending from the baseintersection 24 to the plane MM at the mid-point of the roll is oflesser length and, therefore, of somewhat greater pitch than thecorresponding portion 21a of return groove 21. Thus it will be apparentthat the rate of traverse movement of the yarn inwardly along grooveportion 20a from the intersection 24 to the mid-point MM of the rollwill be greater than the rate of its return movement from MM to theintersection 24 through the return groove portion 210.

On the other hand, the distance along the remaining portion 20b of thelead groove 20 from the mid-point M-M out to the nose intersection 25 isgreater than the length of its corresponding return groove section 21band, therefore, the lead-out groove section 20b is of lesser overallpitch than the corresponding return groove section 2111. Thus the rateof traverse of the yarn outwardly from the mid-point of the roll towardthe nose end thereof will be relatively slower than its return traversemovement along the higher pitched groove section 21b back to themid-point generally designated by the plane M-M.

The greater length of the groove portion 20a as contrasted to that ofgroove portion 21a is thus compensated for by the relatively greaterlength of groove portion 21b as contrasted to its corresponding axiallycoextensive portion 20b, so that the total angular extent of the twogrooves 20 and 21 is equal. In other words, in the embodiment shown eachsuch groove 20 and 21 extends for exactly two turns around the roll.Obviously where the relatively decreasing pitch groove portions 20b and21a will tend jointly to concentrate a disproportionate number ofwindings along the mid-section of the package being wound, thisdeforming tendency is offset by the counter-tendency of the groovesections 20a and 21b by their increasing pitch toward the roll center ormid-point M-M, to concentrate the windings towards the ends of thepackage being formed. Thus in accordance with the invention the desiredchanges in speed of traverse are readily achieved while avoidingdistortion of the resulting package shape.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that as the roll 16 isrotated during the winding operation to traverse the yarn Y back andforth about its fanning point (generally designated F in FIGURE 1) in anaxial direction from the base to the nose of the package P being wound,the traverse of the yarn will be comparatively fast in a direction fromthe ends of the roll toward the mid-point thereof and will thus takeadvantage of the natural tendency of the yarn and the forces actingthereon to return to and maintain this position, while at the same timethe outward traverse away from this position toward either end of theroll will be at a relatively slower rate of traverse, thereby to betterovercome the increased resistance to such outward movement as caused bythe tendency of the yarn to return toward this normal path.

The generally increasing pitch of both grooves 20 and 21 in a directionfrom the base toward the nose end of the,roll is necessitated in thepresent instance by virtue of the fact that the roll is adapted for usein winding a conical package, in which case it is necessary to traversethe yarn at a gradually increasing rate toward the nose of the packageand at a gradually decreasing rate on its return toward the base, simplyin order to provide a generally equal distribution of the yarn on thepackage and thereby maintain the desired shape of the package. It willbe understood, of course, that the shape modification of the grooves inaccordance with the instant invention is superimposed on this existingrequirement as to change of pitch. However, this would not necessarilybe so for obvious reasons where the roll is adapted for Winding acylinder or cylindrical package, in which case the need for the pitchchanges as required in winding a cone are not present.

In the modified groove conformation as illustrated in FIGURE 4 of thedrawings, substantially the same results are achieved in actual practiceas in the case of the preferred groove conformation shown in FIGURE 3.In the modified form of the invention, however, the pitch of the leadgroove 200 has been comparatively decreased throughout its length ascontrasted to a conventional groove arrangement by increasing the numberof turns of this groove 200 from the base to the nose. At the same timethis has been compensated for by decreasing the number of turns in thereturn groove 201 by an amount equal to the angular extent of theincrease of lead groove 200.

In the instant embodiment it will be seen that the lead groove extendsaround the roll for two-and-one-quarter turns, while the return groove201 extends around the roll for but one-and-three-quarters turns. Thusin the forming of the package, the lead groove 200 applies the windingsin somewhat closer spaced relation on the package than is usually thecase andthis is compensated for by the fact that the return groove 201applies the various windings in relatively greater spaced relation thanhas heretofore been the case. The compensatory action of each groovewith respect to the deforming action of the other is such as to producea substantially true conical form in the package when wound and therelatively diiferent angles and spacings of the windings in therelatively reverse directions on the cone tends to produce an improvedpackage. The method carried out by the use of the roll of thismodification, therefore, permits an increase in the taper of thepackages without distortion during their winding to a greater extentthan is possible with conventional traverse rolls. Thus when thecompleted yarn packages are utilized as a supply for a knitting machine,the increased taper allows the yarn to be delivered at a more uniformtension and achieves the benefits heretofore pointed out.

In this modification, the length of the lead groove portion or section200a from the base end to the mid-point designated by the line M--M ofthe roll is greater and, therefore, its overall pitch is less than isthe case with the axially coextensive portion 201a of the return groove201. Thus the traverse of the yarn in a direction from the base to themid-point of the roll will be at a somewhat slower rate than thecorresponding return traverse from the midpoint back to the base throughthe groove section 2010 However, this is not such a critical factor atthe base em or half of the roll when same is used for winding a cone forthe reason that the speed of traverse at this end of tilt roll mustnormally be less than that from the mid-poin to the nose in any event.In other words, as has hereto fore been pointed out, the rate oftraverse in a directioi from the base to the nose must be progressivelyaccel erated in order to properly distribute the windings upo1 the coneand avoid distortion thereof. Thus the limit 0 the speed of traverse isdetermined by the pitch of th grooves adjacent the nose end of the rollrather than a the relatively lower speed traverse adjacent the base endOn the other hand, the length of the lead groove sectio1 20b from themid-point MM to the nose end of the I0] is greater and its overall pitchis, therefore, less than i the case with the corresponding axiallycoextensive retun groove section 2012), so that in accordance with theinven tion the yarn will traverse outwardly from the mid-por tion to thenose of the package being formed at a rat appreciably slower than therate of its return traverse This occurs as the yarn is traversed towardand away from the nose end of the roll at the portion thereof Where thtrelative speeds of traverse become critical in the forma tion of aconical package.

It will be readily apparent that though only the pre ferred embodimentand one modification of the inventio1 have been specifically disclosedherein, other modifier forms of the invention and of its several detailswill b obvious from the foregoing description. Such modifica tions areintended to be included within the inventivt concept as defined by theappended claim.

What is claimed is:

A yarn traversing roll for a winding machine, said rol being formed witha surface of revolution concentric t its axis, and having formed in saidsurface a pair of rela tively oppositely pitched axially coextensivegrooves, sait grooves being interconnected at their ends, one of saitgrooves extending around the roll for a lesser number 0: turns than theother and being of greater pitch throughou its entire length than theother said groove, and each sair groove varying in pitch at difierentaxial locations through out its entire length.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS MERVIN STEIN,Primary Examiner.

